Ex-basketball star fighting for life after being stabbed

BELGRADE (AFP) –

Serbian basketball star Predrag Danilovic (right) announces the draw for men’s basketball for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, on November 8, 2003, in Madrid. The former basketball star was fighting for his life after being stabbed in a Belgrade cafe overnight, police and medical sources said.

Serbian former basketball star Predrag Danilovic was fighting for his life on Saturday after being stabbed in a Belgrade cafe overnight, police and medical sources said.

Danilovic, 43, sustained “life threatening injuries,” head of Serbian police Milorad Veljovic said, quoted by B92 radio.

“Police are trying to establish the circumstances of the incident,” he said without elaborating.

Danilovic, who was hospitalised early on Saturday with stomach, head and arm injuries, underwent surgery and his condition is currently stable, an official of a Belgrade medical emergency centre told AFP.

The former Yugoslav international was considered one of the best players in Europe in the 1990s. In 1994 he was named European player of the year by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), while he won two European club titles — with Partizan Belgrade in 1992 and Virtus Bologna in 1998.

With the Yugoslav team he won the European championships four times, as well as a silver medial at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Danilovic, who retired as a professional player in 2000, is currently Partizan Belgrade president.